Boredom ,stress and trauma

[trixietrack]

Having read thousands of posts here in the last 10 months. I noticed that a lot of us who post or posted here, tend to be either stressed out with work, relationships or, bored with some sort of routine like staying home all day.

Alcohol seems to alleviate these problems at first, but then it escalates and turns into addiction or abuse.
Trauma also seem to play a big part in why so many of us overindulge. i think this one is a very serious issue since it is usually a deep seated problem and not something immediate that we can just walk away from.

Either we are too busy with life or bored with it, and that can trigger one into drinking to oblivion, then we end up dealing with the consequences of having abused ourselves.

I know I get bored quite easily and have to constantly keep changing activities in order to keep from feeling like life is incredibly dull, even though I live in one of the most exciting places in the world. totally objective isn't it?
I also know that life here, even just walking down the street is nothing but stress and sometimes anger.

my question or comment is why do we abuse ourselves as a way to deal with boredom, stress or trauma or all of the above?

Trix

[hart]

Boredom ,stress and trauma

(((Trix)))

Speaking for me personally. There are some past issues I have never dealt with. Also, in that mix, I have an addictive personality. Add a fear of confrontation with unpleasantness from others, and you have, BINGO, Hart the alcoholic.

HABIT is probably also a factor. Feel _____________fill in blank, bored, depressed, angry, happy, why, that calls for a drink or 10.

So all these lead to a tendency to drink.

Campral does help, if I don't talk myself out of maybe drinking tonite.

So many excuses.................

[Guest]

Boredom ,stress and trauma

I totally agree with you. A lot of the time I think I would drink to make time go by fast...time that I didn't have to "feel". But, you can't stay drunk all the time and sobbering up is torture!!!! God knows sobbering up is no joke. That is real pain.

[geordiegirl]

Boredom ,stress and trauma

Trix, I wish I knew the answer. I started trying to rationalise this out and after three sentences, realised that I have absolutely no idea what the whole drinking thing is about. I know lots of people who are far mor anxious, agitated, less chilled out than me, but they dont go home and drink every night. Is it a way to avoid strong unpleasant emotions?
It is for me. Dutch courage in social situations, yes, definately. An old friend who made me feel calm, and able to not worry. but also, a habit that I got into and felt I couldn't live without.

Geo

[Thankful]

Boredom ,stress and trauma

I'm not sure about this either, but this is what I think. That first drink or two is euphoric. We become calm, happy and laughing, confident, more social, etc. Great. Good for those people who can stop at two and be pleased with their evening. Then there is our little group (the bored ones, the stressed ones, those suffering a trauma, etc.) and our minds think ...hey, if I feel this good with two, I wonder how great we would feel with more. And there it goes. We always need more because as we know we build up a tolerance for it. It all starts from the very first time we drink. It alters the mood, and we like it.

I think alcohol commercials should be pulled off the tv just as cig commercials were. They all have the beautiful pretty people laughing and flirting with amazing exciting lives, taking exotic grand vacations. Wow, I'd like that life too! Let me run to the nearest bar and drink XYZ liquor so I can land a hot guy/girl like that too!! Yes, we are smart enough to know that booze won't give us that kind of life, but these commercials are just too damn glamorized for children if you ask me. Where's the PBS commercial with smashed eggs, stating "this is your brain if you consume too much alcohol"? Not out there. Just the pretty people being blisssful. Maybe we should get a petition going? lol

Ok, done venting I guess.

Love, Me
:l

[Accountable for Me]

Boredom ,stress and trauma

I think you totally nailed it with your post trixie - for me and many people that I know in my life it is either one, two, or all of those things.

Me - first started because of trauma in my life. Then it went to boredom, and then stress. That totally summed it up for me.

[nancy]

Boredom ,stress and trauma

I really agree with you Trixie.

I think Thankful has the answer. The first drinks are euphoric, alcohol is a sedative and gives a huge sugar rush. So it's understandable to turn to booze for a mood uplift. It's like chocolate but with the sedative effect too. Now one would think that after bad consequences, people would stop. But perhaps if you have low self-esteem (related to trauma), you somehow think you deserve the bad consequences. somewhere along the way, perspective is really lost.

It's a slippery slope toward alcoholism from there and, according to the author Alan Carr (my idol), everyone is susceptible, like flies sliding toward a honey trap.

Thanks for the thread.

nancy.

[Croft]

Boredom ,stress and trauma

Boredom is key with me. Since I have been trying to stop, I keep finding myself with nothing to do. Nothing to hold. Nothing to sip.

What are we going to do tonite, honey, if I am not trying to manipulate us into going to dinner (they have drinks there), going to play pool (they have drinks there), going to a comedy club (you have to drink there).

[trixietrack]

Boredom ,stress and trauma

geordiegirl;263976 wrote: Trix, I wish I knew the answer. I started trying to rationalise this out and after three sentences, realised that I have absolutely no idea what the whole drinking thing is about. I know lots of people who are far mor anxious, agitated, less chilled out than me, but they dont go home and drink every night. Is it a way to avoid strong unpleasant emotions?
It is for me. Dutch courage in social situations, yes, definately. An old friend who made me feel calm, and able to not worry. but also, a habit that I got into and felt I couldn't live without.

Geo

you know I think you are on to something here

[trixietrack]

Boredom ,stress and trauma

thankful I think that what you are saying is very true. the ads only add to the stress, and then they also add envy which makes us anxious and guess what happens after that, yep you guessed. We hit the bottle.

argghh